Police hunt down stolen iPhone in chopper

Nice to see that someone is taking this seriously. When my iPhone was stolen I unfortunately found out about the different GPS locating software after the fact.
I did find this website: http://www.stolen-property.com/ where you can report a stolen iPhone online. Hope it brings my beloved device back, my hand is so lonely =(

shenanigans!

folks. stop and think. think about how much money was wasted in this anecdotal story. helicopters cost a lot of money to operate. to fly. to fuel.

for a bloody iPhone? puh-lease.

shenanigans!

Man, I wish they did that here when it was stolen right out of my office at work. Apple's and AT&T's responses were even better than my company's: sorry, that phone has been reactivated, but we can't give you our customer's information due to privacy concerns. Thanks a lot, a-holes.

I wondered why the stolen iPhone was in the chopper, and then I realized that the headline should read 'Police in chopper hunt down stolen iPhone."

As exciting as the stories are, they unfortunately seem to be more the exception than the rule, at least in the US. In my experience, which may be heavily influenced by my local area, there was no way I could use MobileMe to track my devices in realtime.

In one case, I was trying to locate my wife's stolen phone as it traveled around the area. The time between refreshes was too long to use in that capacity. Even when I did manage to narrow down a location when they stopped, they just turn the phone off when I tried to send notices or force the audio alert. The second time, yes I considered switching her to a disposable phone, the thief just turned the device off from the start. Also, in neither case was there a lot of interest from the police in locating the phones by other means, though I had all of the device information that would have facilitated that.

Even today, when I check on the location of the current phone, it doesn't show it traveling along when it's in motion. There should be a "pursuit" mode which actively updates in near real time. And a wifi/Bluetooth mode that acts as a transponder once you get close enough. :-)

I figure the Houston case was helped out by the fact the thieves actively confronted the victims, where in my cases the phones were lifted stealthily.

Who wouldn't prefer an iPhone after reading a story like this?

If someone steals my phone a police helicopter will be promptly deployed to hunt them down.

That's freaking awesome!

Here's a very similar story from yesterday in Houston: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/7341264.html

"iPhone presumably had the now well-known Find My iPhone app installed and the police used the app to track and locate the iPhone in the neighboring suburb of Greensborough. "

Since when does any app need to be installed for find my iPhone to work? And it seems a bit difficult for police to use an app installed on the missing iPhone to find said iPhone.

Caught in possession of a mind-altering substance.... an iPhone!

Trams in Greensborough? Not likely. I drove a train to Greensborough today. The closest tram is the route 86 in Bundoora, which is a decent bike ride from Greensborough!

(For those playing at home, these are all suburbs of Melbourne)